A Strange Piece of Synchronicity

It was grey, cool and overcast this morning - anything but butterfly weather - and yet, as I stepped out of my front door, I brushed against the ivy-grown fence and inadvertently flushed a roosting Holly Blue, which fluttered off sleepily down the garden path. This was a strange piece of synchronicity, as I'd just been listening on the Today programme to a rather stilted chat about butterflies between the great David Attenborough and 'Jim' Naughtie, who at one point asked Sir David, What are those little blue ones I see flying around? Are they moths? No no, Attenborough assured him - not moths. Common Blues... Hmm. More likely Holly Blues surely, in a North London garden at this time of year? There was also a lot of loose talk about 'cabbage whites' and the still more mythical 'common white' - but never mind; this was all in a good cause, publicising Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count, which begins on Saturday. I might be returning to this later...